I am thankful for my immediate family. I feel like the luckiest woman in the world to be married to my husband Daniel. He is an incredible man and he always treats me with so much kindness, patience and respect. I can truly say that he has never called me an unkind name or said harsh words to me. That in and of itself is amazing as I am certain I have tried his patience many times over the last eleven years of our marriage.
I am also the luckiest woman in the world to be the mother of wonderful daughters and step-children, sons and daughters in law, they are such good human beings. We love our sons and daughters in law like our own, and are so grateful for an unbroken chain of temple marriages that link them to us forever. They have a testimony of who they are and they live by their values. They are amazing children and I am humbled daily that I get the blessing of being their mother, step-mother and mother in law. I am grateful for our precious grandchildren, the 23 already here and for others on the way.
Third, I am thankful for my extended family. I am thankful for everyone in my family, and that includes aunts, uncles, cousins etc. I have the most incredible mother in the world who taught me from a young age to love the Lord. My mother has taught me so much in my life. One good lesson I have learned from her is that when we make mistakes it’s not too late to repent and move on. Many of the attitudes and circumstances surrounding the way my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were raised affected my parents and consequently how I was raised. What I learned mostly about my ancestors is that in every trial there is always a survival who overcame the insurmountable challenges that were given them and at the end of the day, they made it o.k.
My mom is intelligent and talented and loving. She has sacrificed so much for her daughters and she has always set a phenomenal example of faith in the Lord’s timing. In addition, she gave birth to my three awesome sisters and provided us a very fun and carefree upbringing. I love my sisters very much. We are all as different as the day is long, both in personalities, and in looks even. But each child has amazing talents and I have learned so much from each of my sisters. I loved growing up with them and I love forming friendships with them as adults with our own families.
Fourth I am thankful for my friends. I have been blessed to be surrounded with great friends in my life. My friends are as loyal and true as can be and I love them as much as I love my family. They have stood by me, they have mentored me, they have picked me up when I have down days, they have set me straight when I am in the wrong, and they have loved me through my failures as well as my successes and I am forever grateful to have them in my life.
Fifth, I am grateful for the opportunity to give back in my life. I have spent many years working my tail off to have the necessities of life, and as I married Daniel I was able to have a life changing event which has afforded me the opportunity to stop working in order to take time to give back through mentoring, speaking, teaching, writing, and helping others to succeed as I did by working in the temple and as a missionary for PEF and Pathway. This new opportunity to focus my efforts on giving back is a dream come true for me. It is something I have dreamed about for as long as I can remember and now it is finally happening. In my spare time, I am busy managing four rental homes. My goal is for my little rental company to have enough revenue to support a charity Foundation for children at risk, I think about those children who end up in foster care, but for now, I am spending each and every day doing something I absolutely LOVE. I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to do that. I can’t even describe how humbling and grateful I feel.
My life has been more than I ever dreamed it could be to this point even when experiencing isolation due to the pandemic but I can’t even begin to imagine what God still has in store for me in the coming years, but I know that if I just show up and work my hardest every day to do the right things that the future will be nothing short of a true masterpiece…and the same holds true for all of you…thank heavens for my faith that lets me know that to be true!
“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.” -W.T. Purkiser
Con amor,
Vero
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